WHAT IS WorkWORLD AND WHY HAS IT BEEN DEVELOPED?

Welcome! You are attending a distance learning program offered by the Employment Support Institute (ESI) at Virginia Commonwealth University, funded by the Social Security Administration (Contract #600-99-38679). The program focuses on WorkWORLD decision support software, an innovative decision-support system that is designed to help individuals navigate the complex rules and interacting policies of various Federal and State disability benefits, poverty, and employment support programs.

This is this first phase of a planned comprehensive distance learning program. This module:

• Will introduce you to some of the key concepts that have prompted the development of WorkWORLD software
• Will describe potential uses and broad impacts of the software, including how it may be used to make immediate assessments about potential work incentive options or may be used for long-term employment planning, and
• Will describe future possibilities for the development of a national knowledge-based decision support network.

Completion of this program will provide a solid base of understanding for future distance learning modules that will focus on how to operate WorkWORLD software and how to develop your own cases and scenarios in the software.

ESI has developed WorkWORLD:

• To promote self-determination, informed choice, and improved employment outcomes for people with disabilities who are using benefits and work incentive programs, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Disability Insurance (SSDI), Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and housing assistance
• To allow people with disabilities, advocates, benefits counselors, and others to use personal computers to better understand and best use the various Federal and State disability and poverty benefits programs, and
• To automate the computation of benefits and to provide information and alerts to guide decision-making about the complex interaction of income, benefit programs, and work incentives.

ESI's article, "Navigating and Improving Employment-Related Policies for People with Disabilities: An Emerging Knowledge-Based Decision Support System" (published at http://www.vcu.edu/busweb/esi/wwkbds/WWKBDS.html), explores some of the difficulties and barriers with the current system. It describes the advantages of using decision support technology as a way to help individuals and policy makers understand and interpret complex and interacting programs and rules. You are encouraged to visit this link for an introduction to decision support theory and ESI's vision for a national decision support system.

WorkWORLD software is currently being enhanced and distributed by ESI under a contract funded by the Social Security Administration. It is fully functional, and is presently being used by many people throughout the country. It is being continuously improved through regular version releases that incorporate new information about Federal and State benefit programs. New operational features are also added to new versions based on user recommendations.

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